Ashton praises conduct of Ukrainian elections

Catherine Ashton, the EU’s high representative for foreign and security policy, has praised the conduct of the presidential elections in Ukraine and promised to work with the country’s new president.

In a statement issued today, Ashton said she welcomed the fact that Sunday’s elections had been given a “positive assessment” by the election observation mission led by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

She said that the elections were held in “generally calm conditions” and that there had been an “open campaign in the media”. The electorate had been provided with a genuine choice, she said, calling all these facts “important achievements in Ukraine’s democratic development”.

Ashton said the EU “remains committed to deepening the relationship with Ukraine” and "supporting it in implementing its reform agenda”. She said the EU “looks forward to working with the new president”.

With just over 2% of votes still to be counted, Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the opposition and seen as the most pro-Moscow of the candidates, currently leads with a 2.65% margin over his rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, the current prime minister and one of the leaders of the pro-Western ‘Orange Revolution’ in 2004.

Ashton’s comments about the proper conduct of the elections and the positive assessment from OSCE/ODIHR, will make it harder for Tymoshenko to argue that the election was unfair. She has not yet ceded defeat to Yanukovych.

In a statement issued yesterday, the OSCE-led observer mission said that “yesterday’s vote was an impressive display of democratic elections. For everyone in Ukraine, this election was a victory”.